August 27, 2010
So “all that cash” I’ve been sitting on? It’s time for what I imagine as a huge origami ship of money to set sail.
Between both my parents and a denture-happy dentist, I’m warming up the credit card for a massive spend in the next few weeks. It’s sooner than I expected, but the fact is, holding off on treatment just to save up isn’t a good enough reason. I can afford to pay off any charges accrued now, and they will benefit by having earlier care.
I’ve asked my dad to schedule my mom’s evaluations and get her treatment started. He nervously asked, “What’s your limit?” As though it might melt the card.
“Trust me, it’ll be fine.” That’s all I’ll say.
It’s weird that I didn’t really want to say “nearly $20 grand” as if that was the equivalent of saying I have that much money. He won’t abuse it. He hates that he has to use my money for basic necessities like food and gas, but oddly enough, even though I know all the money I’ve saved is for their care, for emergencies, and for the family, I’m still loathe to share any details whatsoever.
Call it force of habit.
Anyhow, I got the call that a few of Dad’s bridges are in now and rang up at a total cost of $1200. He’s got more coming, but he actually tried to decline treatment on the basis of cost! You know I shut that down immediately. Feels vaguely awkward, but I instructed him, no questions asked, to make his next appointment before he left that office. One would think I’d be used to playing parent by now, but it never really fits properly.
As for Mom, the news is … bad. She’s been hiding her problems so long that it’s now going to cost her 6-8 months of painful treatment, possibly more, to start repairing the worst of the damage. Talking to the dentist about the recommendations was hearing like a dental student’s boot camp final exam:
Multiple extractions with a 2 month healing period after each one,
Bridges to replace each extracted tooth,
Root canals for severe dental decay,
Fillings for all other teeth with moderate or mild dental decay.
At this point, leaving aside our ridiculously good fortune that this dentist is giving us most everything at cost because it turns out that his mom is a very old family friend, I’m just really worried about how rough this will be for her. For them both, really.
Friends, please take good care of your teeth. The pain and discomfort of this whole ordeal, never mind all the time she kept hiding it from us, is almost entirely preventable. In her case, maybe less so because much of it was a side effect of the many medications she’s been on for years, but for the rest of us it’s critical to brush and floss twice a day to ward off this kind of problem.
On the money side, I did look into whether my FSA would accommodate these costs but the Dependent Care Assistance portion of the FSA is only limited to day care and educational costs. Back to out of pocket for me.
May 12, 2010
“When did you become Martha Stewart?”
One of my friends was suitably impressed by the dinner I prepared over the weekend and that I cook as much as I do each week. The evidence of my evolution into frugal domesticity was rather striking this weekend, come to think.
I came home from work, did more work at home, made a three course dinner with dessert, served brunch, second lunch, picked up supplies for my friends the intrepid painters, washed, dried and folded a combination of laundry for three, and made dinner again.
As I suspected, several long years ago, supporting my family financially isn’t all there is to running a household. Housekeeping is hard work. I can’t even begin to imagine how much more challenging this would be combined with having children. And pets? No wonder my parents resisted our pleas for dogs so long. Every little bit eats away at your previous time and energy.
The extra effort in having guests who are old friends would be well worth the company alone. In this case, it’s more than repaid because they’ve cheerfully taken on the task of painting the apartment (not my plan or idea, but I can’t get into that right now). All I’ve got to do is provide support services like cooking and cleaning so they can handle the stuff my shoulder and various other joints won’t allow. Our friendships don’t require currency but it’s nice that we’re good about exchanging favors like random chores or emergency break-up moving services.
As I was folding our laundry, the thought occurred to me that the next time I buy detergent and fabric softener – a long while from now as I only use a wee dash at a time, I need a different scent. Something about this combination reminds me of someone I was once fond of but am no longer. It’s strange how something as simple as a fragrance can influence future shopping habits.
October 7, 2007
This blue skies, sunny day was ideal for the cleaning frenzy that struck my fancy this morning. But lo, our 15 year old vacuum has begun yet another form of mischief. Aside from just physically falling apart, losing bits and pieces of its front and sides as we go rolling-bump-bump through the house, and being remarkably intransigent when the hook-ups are needed, it’s begun to cough up ingested materials while I’m using said hook-ups!
As if weighing a thousand pounds and being the least mobile vacuum with wheels I’ve ever met wasn’t enough, it has to actually redistribute the dirt? Oh no, that’s enough. I’ve had it! I’m tossing that darned thing out tomorrow.
I’m now looking online at vacuums and discovering that I’ve never shopped for a vacuum before. It seems that everything is bagless now, which I can live with, but there aren’t a lot of vacs on LNT.com that tell you what “lightweight” means in practical terms. So I know I’m looking for something that is truly lightweight, with all the usual hookups, and a LONG hose. If it telescopes so I don’t pull the vacuum over on my head while crawling under things to vacuum, that’d be even better. Fewer head injuries = happier Miniducky.
LNT currently has the Hoover Z 700 Bagless Upright Vacuum on sale for $99 with free ground shipping, and quite a lot of the above-specified needs, but I don’t know how heavy it is. Perhaps I’ll run by the store and see if they have the same deal that I can combine with a BBB 20% off coupon, as long as it meets my weight requirement.
Has anyone had good/bad experiences with Hoover? Any other recommendations? While I don’t want to spend too much, neither do I want to veer too far to the cheap side and find myself with this problem again in a few years.
Of course, the kink in this, er, “gratuitous” spending is that I’m already $200 over budget in expenses this month. The trip to NY is coming up right quick (two weeks) and there’s obviously no slack in the budget to accommodate NY spending as well as an unanticipated appliance purchase. Oh, and the lack of OT means that the next paycheck will only be 70% of the usual. Financially, I should probably wait on the purchase, but there are Columbus Day sales this weekend so if the deals are good now, perhaps I don’t have to wait until Black Friday to vacuum my house! Mmm, clean house …
April 10, 2007
Hmph. It turns out that, despite my intense denial, the accountant is right and I can’t claim HOH status with both Pa and MaDucky as my dependents. Force of willpower can’t make him wrong, after all.
MaDucky made more than the 3,300/year income limit, and so, despite the fact that I’m pretty much paying for the entire household, I cannot claim an exemption for her. This means I could end up owing money after all. I’d artificially inflated my exemptions for the last quarter of 2006 to compensate for what I thought was overwithholding all year, but forgot to factor in my bonus and the possibility that I might not have 3 exemptions this time ’round.
Drat.
What does this mean? Well, I’ve already reduced my exemptions for this year. But, I have to try to sock away more into my retirement accounts to lower my taxable income some more in case my bonus is the same as last year’s or better.
Phooey phooey and drat. I hate it when well-laid plans go awry. It’s a good thing I never counted on a refund, though.